Driveroneuk:
If both depots are VERY close to the m/way, i’d reckon on an average speed of 50, much less if they aren’t close.This one really will depend on start/finish exact locations as every 5 miles is going to count.
The depot in Dover is 400 yards from the A2, the depot in Glasgow is off J26 of the M8 so both pretty close to major routes.
If drivers run out of time then they get rescued. We run (very) straight.
Simon71:
Driveroneuk:
If both depots are VERY close to the m/way, i’d reckon on an average speed of 50, much less if they aren’t close.This one really will depend on start/finish exact locations as every 5 miles is going to count.
The depot in Dover is 400 yards from the A2, the depot in Glasgow is off J26 of the M8 so both pretty close to major routes.
If drivers run out of time then they get rescued. We run (very) straight.
again technically you could do it, but again you’d have to be very light and average 86kph the whole run, not one hold up.
you almost certainly couldn’t do in the daytime and in this day and age where even at night you get hold ups because of maintenance work on the motorways i doubt you could do it at night
now we know the score
driver 1 to Redditch load shuffle with Scotch stuff rtn Dover
driver 2 from Redditch to wherever changeover trucks or trailers
driver 3 from Glasgow to wherever changeover trucks or trailers
only thing you have to accept that freight leaving Dover will not arrive
in Glasgow for a min of 12 hours
this is the only efficient way to do it
otherwise legallity will go out the window
work out costs and charge accordingly
WHAT
you trunk between all depots at night 
hub and spoke
build central rdc in the Midlands (Stoke will be cheap)
then operate as dry freight networks do 
trux:
Giblsa has gone all QT on us ,
come on you secret squirrel , give us the answer old chap
oi nosey!
i just sent him a pm saying that it could be done with about 8 drivers on it doing the complete trunk and only using drivers that have 10 hours available, with a unit on standby at either end incase they dont make it in one go to collect the trailer oand drop the outbound one off to where the driver run out of hours.
or the other option is dover to knutsford (very tight but possible with a unit tugging well up the hills and set to at least 55 ) trailer swap and back down. then glasgow to knutsford is possible, it would be very tight and may need driver recovery on some nights, presuming that they wont be trunking over the weekend (sat night) it would be possible to work it with 8 drivers and maybe 2 on standby to do the run. the route from dover M20, M26, M25, M40, M6. this is doable but would be quite tight every night.
to test send two artics to see if it is doable on a busy day (friday bank holiday) but stick 2 drivers in each just in case. or double man the run and offer it every other day
or split it down to three stints, dover-brum, brum carlisle, carlisle-glasgow. or there abouts.
A company I used to work for used to have their own freight network,and one of the permutaions,was Southampton-Brum-Manchester-Glasgow.This was done with 4 drivers and 4 vehicles nightly,and involved stripping and re-loading,and was usually completed in 12 hours.
To do it safely,legally,and without the risk of any driver running out of time due to hold ups,a network is the only option imo.
Ken.
hitch:
WHAT
you trunk between all depots at night
hub and spoke
build central rdc in the Midlands (Stoke will be cheap)
then operate as dry freight networks do
We have always done it this way, providing trunking volume is reasonably balanced between depots it works fine 
If doing it in a series of trunks, would have the Glasgow driver changing over down near Warrington area, or there abouts get there trunk running to 4hrs.
Carlisle is possible in 1hr 40mins from certain areas of Glasgow.
The route from Glasgow down to the mid 20 junctions of the M6 is nearly always a straight run, little traffic most of the journey even with roadworks few delays.
People coming up the M6 from the other way different kettle of fish, can get delayed for an hour and a half in the middle of the night on the M6 due to roadworks.
Dover to Knutsford north bound services shows as 430 kms, so can’t be done in 1 hit. (unless your name’s Paddy )
Knutsford supposed to be non HGV anyway because only about another 10 -15 mins to Lymm and same company.
I really think this isn’t going to be realistic to do it in 1 driver 1 change over fashion. Its just that few miles too far. Stretch a rubber band tight enough for long enough, it WILL snap!
Most sensible suggestions so far are the 3 stage thing via Redditch, (which would include the possibilities for some consolidation there) or stretch one of the legs & double man it. (need to check up on the 10 hrs per night ruling re night workers & when/if opt out is due to expire).
Please come back & post again Simon & let us all know what you have decided to trial & how it goes. (and i guess many of us would also be interested in the costs).
One way to do it would be,
Dover to Redditch single driver, whats that say 4hrs leaving at say 6pm or a bit later, getting into Redditch for 10.30pm - 11pm, has break ready to go back for midnight, getting back in 0400 to Dover.
Glasgow double man, we used to do Glasgow Cambuslang to jct 9 of the M6 in about 5hrs 30mins, so with no delays maybe 6 hours to Redditch ?
Leave Glasgow double man at about 5pm Redditch for 11ish, quick turn around back up the road for 5am.
However you do it try not to plan the times too tight.
A trunk like that needs margins of error building into it , something planners often forget.
Your average planner beleives that there is no accidents or roadworks at night time.
Overnight can be a pain as it’s quite the in thing to completley close a road or section of motorway and plot a ridiculous lenghty diverson route …
I,ve done 2 trunks last night and just managed to get back on 4hrs 28 of my second period . No time built in for error at all .
Yes the 10 hr drive option was open to me but planners can’t build a 10 drive run.
Any hiccups on the routes I did last night would have had me stopping out and a wagon down for the day men.
I really hate having to run like that , pure greed from the planners chancing a longer second hit.
(
need to check up on the 10 hrs per night ruling re night workers & when/if opt out is due to expire).
worth also considering that the EU is now wanting to do away with the working time opt outs.
Driveroneuk:
Please come back & post again Simon & let us all know what you have decided to trial & how it goes. (and i guess many of us would also be interested in the costs).
Will do - although it’s kicking off until the second half of Feb.
Thanks for all your replies and suggestions
Simon
what you need is to employ 4 blokes at dover and 2 at glasgow put them on a 4 on 4 off rota work out how far 1 man can get from glasgow say in 4 hours then get the double man team from dover to meet him there they wont be pushed for time as there will be 2 of them do they change over there you should have no problems . remember you should never plan a full 10 hour drive for the man coming from glasgow as we all know the m6 can be bad day or night on the other hand the double man team will have 20 hours to play with so they wont be pushed for timeshould be okay
In all seriousness. Get subbies in for that run. Couple of Paddies with a four series V8 will be able to do that job in nine hours. (On the card, showing 56kph)
ROG:
By utilising the 10 hours between the driver from the north and the one from the south is it possible to have 2 changeover points - the first three days of week 1 a little bit north (south driver uses the 10s) then the last two days of week 1 a bit further south (north driver uses the 10s) and the swap the three and two days for week 2.Does that make sense… it did when I wrote it
EDIT - just realised - it could not be the same driver over 2 weeks as I think it would go over the 90 hours in 2 weeks rule
Why don’t you stick to what you know, teaching people how to pass a test!!!